MARSHALL, Minn. - With a strong wind ranging between 25 and 30 miles per hour blowing straight out to center field, it was host Southwest Minnesota State (19-21, 12-12 NSIC) that was able to capitalize on the conditions in a 7-5 and 12-2 doubleheader sweep of Concordia-St. Paul (15-19, 13-13 NSIC) on Wednesday afternoon at Alumni Field.

The losses for the Golden Bears hand the season series to the Mustangs, with SMSU taking all four contests including a pair of neutral site games in Tucson, Ariz. in mid-March. It also evens the two teams in the NSIC Standings in a four team tie for seventh place as Concordia, SMSU, Sioux Falls and Northern State all have .500 records.

Concordia closes out a 12-game road stand on a six game skid, winning five of the away contests and the team weathered the toughest part of its scheduled by going 8-8 in 16 road games in an 18-game stretch of baseball spanning 23 days.

For SMSU, it was their first doubleheader sweep of the year in a season that's seen the club split 12 out of 13 doubleheaders, the only exception being swept at nationally-ranked St. Cloud State on the second day of a weekend series after splitting the first two games.

Now, the Golden Bears will look to close out the 2015 strong in search of an NSIC Tournament bid with the top eight teams in the final regular season standings earning spots in the field to compete for the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Central Region Tournament.

The Golden Bears will be at home for the rest of the year with a Saturday/Sunday four game weekend set against Winona State (17-21, 15-11 NSIC) this weekend at Barnes Field and a Friday/Saturday home series against Sioux Falls (15-25, 12-12 NSIC) on May 1-2.

GAME 1: SMSU 7, Concordia 5
Concordia jumped out to a 5-0 lead after three innings, setting the tone from the first at bat as senior Kyle Dalton led off the game with a double to center field and scored when Andrew Shotwell followed with an RBI double down the left field line. Connor Olson followed with an RBI single as the Golden Bears put together three hits to start the game with a 2-0 lead.

Concordia added two more in the second inning as Tyler Krekling reached with a bunt single as part of a 3-3 performance, adding a run and an RBI. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored when David Henke hit an RBI single to center. A walk to ninth batter Alex LaPorte and a Dalton fly out to right field put runners on the corners with two outs when Shotwell hit his second RBI hit in two innings with a single through the left side to score Henke.

Shotwell went 2-4 with a run and two RBI in the game.

In the third, Concordia kept the pressure on the Mustangs as Eric Fasnacht led off with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. With two outs, Krekling's single to left center scored him.

After a quick first inning for Concordia starter Tyler Brekke, he pitched around trouble in the second before allowing a one out RBI double to SMSU cleanup hitter Patrick Rients. A two out, two-run single to center field by Brandon Alfson gave the Mustangs a three run third inning.

SMSU turned to the bullpen in the fourth inning as Concordia chased SMSU starter Cameron Knudson with five runs in three innings.

Mustang reliever Colton Smit would turn things around, working four shutout innings with seven strikeouts, only allowing a hit, walk and hit by pitch on 69 pitches in relief. All three baserunners reached against Smit with one out in the fifth inning, hitting Ryan Poppitz before a walk to Bargfrede and infield single by Krekling loaded the bases.

But Smit responded with back-to-back strikeouts to end Concordia's last threat as he retired the final eight batters of the game, five via the strikeout.

The home team turned things around in the fourth inning when second hitter Jason Minett deliverd a three run home run to right field with one out to give SMSU a 6-5 lead. It was Minett's fifth homer of the year and he went 1-2 with the homer, three RBI, two runs and two walks for the Mustangs.

Alfson led off the fifth with another homer to right off Brekke, who would work five full innings, allowing seven runs on 11 hits with a season high seven strikeouts. He fell to 0-2 in his third start.

Erik Monson worked the sixth for Concordia, striking out the side while allowing a pair of baserunners as the Golden Bear pitchers combined for 10 strikeouts.

Smit picked up the win for SMSU, improving to 3-0 on the year.

Alfson's homer was his second of the season as he went 3-4 in the game. Rients slugged a pair of doubles while going 3-4, giving him 12 doubles on the year.

GAME 2: SMSU 12, Concordia 2 (7 innings
The Mustangs continued their momentum into the second game by putting up a five run first inning as the first six runners reached base including the first five via hits with a pair of doubles down each line.

After the mustangs sent 10 to the plate in the first inning, junior starter Cody Schacht settled in and didn't allow an earned run over the next four frames, with SMSU plating a pair of unearned runs in the fourth in response to Concordia's first run in the top of that inning.

The Mustangs added two more on Schacht in the sixth inning as he completed six innings in the start while taking the loss to fall to 2-3 on the year, striking out three and walking one. Schacht has only issued three walks all season for the Golden Bears.

Concordia wasn't able to score early despite one out singles in the first and second innings and a leadoff single in the third.

In the fourth Connor Olson led off with a double to the opposite field down the right field line, moved to third on a single to left center by Eric Fasnacht and scored on Joe Muench's RBI double to right field.

Olson went 2-4 with his ninth double, a run and an RBI while Muench went 3-3 with his second double and an RBI.

Trailing 7-1 in the fifth, Concordia threatened again by loading the bases with one out but getting a runner cut down at home on a wild pitch for the second out and leaving runners on second and third to end the inning.

An RBI ground out in the seventh inning by Olson scored Alex LaPorte, who led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second when Kyle Dalton reached on an error and moved to third on a wild pitch.

Austin Stubbs led SMSU by going 3-4 with his 12th home run, three runs and three RBI while Jarred Carlson went 2-4 with his 14th double and three RBI. SMSU had six players with multiple hits in game two.